World Cup's biggest spenders show up late as semifinals drive host city travel boom

The World Cup's biggest economic boost is arriving later than expected as the tournament enters its final days.

But for the U.S. businesses hoping for a soccer boom, it's better late than never.

This week's semifinals pit France against Spain in Dallas on Tuesday and England versus Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday. Travel bookings have accelerated as the field of competitors narrows and fans converge from around the world to see the high-stakes matches.

Every U.S. host city has seen an economic lift from soccer fans, according to Bank of America Institute.

"You can see the World Cup effect on the ground," said David Tinsley, senior economist at Bank of America Institute. "Spending picked up after the tournament kicked off, with restaurants and bars seeing some of the strongest gains as consumers turned matches into social events."

In-person spending in U.S. host cities rose 5% over last year from June 10 to July 5, with Kansas City leading the gains, according to analysis from Bank of America credit and debit cards.

The impact could be much higher, since the results capture only spending with BofA cards in U.S. households and does not include cash, checks and spending by international tourists or on corporate cards.

Kansas City also saw the biggest weekly hotel performance gain among host markets, with revenue per available room (RevPAR) up nearly 50%, according to data from industry analysis firm CoStar. Philadelphia also saw a strong lift, with weekend RevPAR up more than 74% as its World Cup match coincided with Fourth of July celebrations and America 250 events.

That was a relief to hotel owners who worried before the World Cup kicked off about soft advance hotel bookings and FIFA releasing large blocks of rooms back into the market.

It's not that hotels are sold out. During the final week of the tournament's group stage, occupancy actually declined almost 3% over last year in U.S. host cities, indicating some business and leisure travelers altered their plans. But even in early stages of the World Cup, host city hotels charged 21% higher rates, according to CoStar.

As the tournament moved into the knockout stage, demand from June 28 to July 4th increased 2.4% from last year and RevPaR rose 23%, despite the World Cup having 50% fewer matches than the previous week.

Demand for short-term rentals also increased beside higher stake matches, according to analytics company AirDNA.